Cave instructor playa del carmen?

[Wstern5]

I'm looking for a cave instructor in playa del carmen. Who do you recommend and days I should plan to be there to complete.

I'm sidemount,AOW,Deep, Advanced Nitrox cert who fell in love with cavern diving years back. I got sidemount certified with the end goal being full cave.

I will be there for a week Aug 26-sept2 with wife and friends for fun dives. But I'll be coming back solo Sept 9-15 for either this training or hit every single cenote I can on those days.

I just am not sure if it's feasible to go from cavern->intro cave->full cave within the time period I have set aside. If need be I can always do cavern and intro to cave and finish full cave another time too.

I had a very good experience with Lanny Vogel https://underworldtulum.com/ I think the other instructors mentioned also have very good reputations.

Cavern/intro combined course could take as little as 5 days assuming you have the skills required to start, any good instructor will evaluate you on the first day and may need to add in a couple (or more?) of days if your basic skills aren’t solid.

cavern/intro/full combined courses (zero to hero) are quite unpopular and most instructors will require some intro level experience dives, usually at least 20 before moving on to full cave.

If you are trying to start 9/9/21 I would get on the horn ASAP, good instructors can book out pretty far in advance, however you may get lucky.

I'm leaning more towards Protec since i also use a Xdeep stealth harness and would love to possibly tweak the setup with Patrick or someone there.

Xdeep is extremely popular in Mexico so I wouldn’t worry too much about finding an instructor that is familiar with this gear. Protec is a good choice and they have quite a few instructors working there but unless he is doing an IT I don’t think you are going to get Patrick to do your course.

I can personally recommend Jon Kieren or Kelvin Davidson, I have done training with both of them.

I’m pretty sure they are only offering diver level training through GUE at the moment (Jon may be doing full cave through TDI). It goes without saying that GUE cave training is very good, but based on the information you have provided I don’t think that is the path you are looking for.

 

[Tracy]

I had a very good experience with Lanny Vogel Underworld Tulum I think the other instructors mentioned also have very good reputations.
I’m pretty sure they are only offering diver level training through GUE at the moment (Jon may be doing full cave through TDI). It goes without saying that GUE cave training is very good, but based on the information you have provided I don’t think that is the path you are looking for.

I second Underworld as well, I have stayed there a few times and it was always great. Claire and Lanny run an awesome operation.
Kelvin teaches Cave 1 and 2 through GUE
Jon teaches Cave 1 through GUE or full cave through TDI

 

[Mr.337]

Are there any major differences between the IANTD, GUE, and TDI? I FULLLLLLY understand how oxy-moron this is about to sound so please dont roast this.....

I'm looking for the best fundamentals, best safety approach, but work with my schedule/budget at around $300/day i know it isn't cheap, but also FULLY know good things aren't cheap! I think the route to go is cavern and intro to cave and then like you guys said get more cave dives under my belt with a guide before going full cave.

It is also in my full intentions to still never go without a guide for a cave. I will be the only one in my group of friends who is going this route so i would never dive alone in a cave with or without training. So my other question is having intro to cave atleast should open up the ability to do guided cave dives correct? This is my end goal maybe in some years explore but mostly just go adventure beyond the cavern zone really.

 

[Mr.337]

Also i've spoken with Kim @ protect and she is wanting me to also take a ABC 4 day buoyancy course $280/day before i even start cavern training. I totally respect buoyancy is 1000000000% important to avoid the silt ups but spending 4 days and costing over 1,000 seems little steep and eats into my time line of things. Does this sound normal or an extra "selling point" to get extra money?

 

[rick00001967]

so many good options. blue life, protec, under the jungle and others
what you can accomplish depends on your current skill level. for some, cavern level is a breeze. for others it can be an introduction to a completely new way of diving.
if your skills are already top notch you should be able to get cavern and intro done.

 

[Mr.337]

so many good options. blue life, protec, under the jungle and others
what you can accomplish depends on your current skill level. for some, cavern level is a breeze. for others it can be an introduction to a completely new way of diving.
if your skills are already top notch you should be able to get cavern and intro done.

I know this sounds weird but i feel far more comfortable in sidemount than back mount singles and my buoyancy is the same i feel in both. I'm certainly not "top notch" or 1000+ dive quality skills, but I feel like i have a excellent awareness in the water and buoyancy is pretty good back kicks are something i can do but needs some tweaking lol. i've reached out to everyone on here that had a link to get information and availability to see if it works.

 

[rick00001967]

good luck with your training. let us know how it goes.

 

[Mr.337]

good luck with your training. let us know how it goes.

will do thanks for the help!

 

[Wstern5]

Are there any major differences between the IANTD, GUE, and TDI? I FULLLLLLY understand how oxy-moron this is about to sound so please dont roast this.....

I can’t really speak to IANTD but GUE and TDI have different standards, any good instructor with TDI will be teaching way above the minimum but organizational standards set by GUE are very high to begin with. Cave 1 and 2 are taught in backmount configuration and the limits for cave 1 are slightly different then Intro (TDI). Cave 1 divers must have a minimum of 25 Cave 1 dives before taking Cave 2, TDI allows all the courses to be taken sequentially without any experience in between. Cave 2 covers stage bottle use and decompression, with TDI those are supplemental courses. With TDI the whole program can be done in sidemount and they also allow one on one classes. To begin any technical or cave training with GUE you must first take fundamentals, receive a tech endorsement and then complete 25 dives. This ensures that your basic skills are solid enough to add on more complex diving. A detailed description of standards for both agencies can be found on their respective websites. Many instructors with other agencies are taking a page from this and that is why they are requiring you to take an “ABC” class first. Also properly trained cave divers do not necessarily need guides and I would say that gaining experience with a similarly experienced buddy is more rewarding then only being guided. With a TDI Intro certification your limits are- no navigation, 1/6th of two cylinders or 1/3rd of a single (no one does this), no decomposition, no restrictions(area where two divers cannot swim side by side) and I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to go deeper than 100’.

Also i've spoken with Kim @ protect and she is wanting me to also take a ABC 4 day buoyancy course $280/day before i even start cavern training. I totally respect buoyancy is 1000000000% important to avoid the silt ups but spending 4 days and costing over 1,000 seems little steep and eats into my time line of things. Does this sound normal or an extra "selling point" to get extra money?

I’m pretty sure the “Kim” you spoke with is male. I can only assume that after describing your experience he suggested this route. If you are confident that you are squared away for cave training I would suggest asking if there is any way you could be evaluated first. I’ve dealt with Protec and Kim over a minor snafu on their end regarding equipment repair and they were extremely generous in rectifying the issue. They also do loads of business- fill station, gear sales, guiding, advanced training IT, ccr, dpv, etc. so I don’t think they are trying to get over on you, just mange your expectations.

 

[ginti]

I know this sounds weird but i feel far more comfortable in sidemount than back mount singles and my buoyancy is the same i feel in both. I'm certainly not "top notch" or 1000+ dive quality skills, but I feel like i have a excellent awareness in the water and buoyancy is pretty good back kicks are something i can do but needs some tweaking lol. i've reached out to everyone on here that had a link to get information and availability to see if it works.

Can you quantify your skills? I know some instructors require "GUE tech pass skills" to let you into overhead training even if they do not teach for GUE. To understand the minimum requirements for a tech pass, see here - page 35:
https://www.gue.com/files/Standards_and_Procedures/GUE-Standards-v9.pdf

To give you an idea, this is the level (you can find many "gue tech pass" videos on youtube):

If you are already here, and you are not interested in GUE, you should be able to start overhead training right now with most (any?) instructors.

Good luck